Drive thirty miles south of the Quad-Cities and you will find the small town of Aledo, Illinois. Aledo is known for their rhubarb festival a "a big time festival in a small town," during which they sell over 2000 homemade rhubarb pies. Like many small towns, they have an ice cream stand, a franchise of Tastee Freez (300 SE 3rd St). While there are some standards, each TF has unique menu items as well. Unfortunately, no rhubarb milk shake yet.
Tastee Freez serves delicious soft serve ice cream, as reviewed in this post. I noticed a few differences in the ice cream menu. Davenport refers to candy shakes as 'Deluxe' while in Aledo they are 'Tornadoes.' The lack in creativity of ice cream shops never ceases to amaze me. Shakes named after weather phenomena is a prolific practice among them. If only real blizzards were made of crushed Butterfingers...
Small town eateries tend to cover all the bases. As you can see, regional specialties at this Tastee include tacos and enchiladas. Rumor has it the tacos are realllly good(?) It's nice to know I could wash down my M&M Tornado with a beef enchilada. Or I could get a side of pizza with my turtle sundae.
A true American knows just what to order at a greasy stand. Cheeseburger, fries, and coleslaw. The cheeseburger was no frills, just fried beef with cheese and lettuce. A good satisfying burger without the fancy packaging. Unlike the crinkle fries at the Davenport store, the fries at this TF were shoestring cut. He enjoyed these more, but i prefer the crinkles. The portions are pretty small, but with cheap prices, you don't really mind.
With plenty of outside seating, you can enjoy the sunshine while you munch, or relax in the air-conditioned indoor area. Remember it's an old school ice cream stand, therefore, Cash Only is their policy. If you find yourself in Aledo for...lord knows what... this is a good quick option. Suck on a chili dog...or a stalk of rhubarb.
